1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image generation system for dividing an image into a plurality of image sections, distributing them to a plurality of terminal devices, and performing a process of generating or editing each image in each terminal device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, the technology of generating or editing an image using a computer has been widely used. However, the operation of generating moving picture and a complicated image requires a very long time and laborious work. Therefore, when the above mentioned image is to be efficiently generated in a short time, the work is often shared among a plurality of users.
A method of generating a specific image by sharing the entire process among a plurality of users can be, for example, (1) storing an original image in a server computer, and a plurality of user accessing the server computer to generate a target image, (2) dividing an original image into a plurality of image sections, distributing them to a plurality of terminal devices, each terminal device performing an assigned editing process, and then combining the edited image sections, etc.
The technology of generating a specific image by sharing respective processes among a plurality of users is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 7-98726 (U.S. Pat. No. 2,863,428). In addition, the technology of distributing an image process to a plurality of terminal devices is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 8-16766, 9-319788, 11-85967, 11-353470.
However, in the conventional methods, each user often feels trouble and inconvenience when he or she cooperates with other users in generating an image in parallel. That is, there has been a request to more efficiently perform an operation of generating an image with a plurality of users (or a plurality of terminal devices).